Going logo: all change at the IPO

Thanks to something called a “single government identity”, the IPO or Intellectual Property Office (the operating name of what used to be called The Patent Office) is this month replacing its existing logo with the Royal Coat of Arms. This is how it will look:

“This is part of a wider move to develop a consistent and cost-effective approach to branding across UK government departments and agencies” says the IPO website. “Government’s use of a standard logo will also make it easier for its customers to distinguish genuine government correspondence from official-looking and often misleading approaches by other organisations.”

According to the intellectual property blog The IP Kat, the change of logo may have been prompted by their unflattering comment on the old logo (below) to the effect that “the motif on the left symbolises the main product of Wales, where the IPO is based — rain drops”.

We at ICLR are inclinded to take a more generous view of the change. After all, it is only a couple of years since we came out with our own new-look logo. In keeping with our identity as a forward-looking company serving up to date content in contemporary format while retaining our traditional values of accuracy and relevance, we went for a distinctive modern design based on the original Victorian company seal:

As you can see, it includes elements of the Royal Coat of Arms, as well as the coats of arms of the four currently existing Inns of Court, that of the now defunct Serjeant’s Inn, and that of the Law Society. We are not a government department, unlike the IPO, but we do enjoy official status and recognition as the publishers of The Law Reports, which are required to be cited in preference for any other series of law reports, let alone unreported transcripts, for any case covered by them.

Judicial recognition of the merits of ICLR law reports extends not just to the printed volumes which have adorned the shelves of the senior courts and judges’ chambers for nearly 150 years but also, now, to ICLR Online, which from this month will be available to the judiciary via the eLis portal thanks to an arrangement with the Ministry of Justice. This will give judges direct access to the electronic version of the most important caselaw which they have created and by which, according to the law of precedent, they in turn may be bound. We think they are bound to like it.